86,250 CHF
A Monsieur l’Ambassadeur Azara Breguet No. 30, sold on 23 Frimaire year 7 (13 décembre 1798), to the nephew of the Ambassador Azara for 1,440 Francs. Very fine and rare gold-cased dumb quarter-repeating garde temps pocket watch, with jumping hours and échappement isolé. Gold engine-turned case, “forme collier”, made by Mermillod No. 454, gilt brass cuvette. White enamel by Cavé (signed on the counter-enamel), Breguet numerals, star minute divisions and small offset subsidiary seconds. Secret signature “Breguet No. 30” beneath the 12. Blued steel Breguet hands. Gilt brass movement, Lepine caliber with free-standing barrel, Breguet overhanging ruby cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance with pare-chute suspension, blued steel flat balance spring with bimetallic compensation curb on the index. Repeating on the case by depressing the pendant with a massive polished steel single hammer.Diameter. 55 mm. Notes Don Joseph-Nicolas d’Azara Born in 1731 in Aragon, he was the Ambassador in Rome of Ferdinand VI, King of Spain for 20 years, and a very influential person. Azara was a great patron of the arts, and something of a scholar, translating Middleton’s “Life of Cicero” into Spanish. During excavations in Tivoli a bust of Alexander the Great was found which Azara presented to Napoleon, who in turn donated it to a Parisian museum. Made Spanish Ambassador to France in 1798, Azara subsequently fell out of favor. He died soon after, in 1804. This watch was bought back b
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-11-14
